Tubs

Tell me something: When did it become necessary to rob a convenience store in order to afford snacks at the movies? A small popcorn is now $5.50? A small soda is $4.25? A small candy is $2.75? On top of 9 bucks for a ticket? On second thought, knocking over a 7-Eleven or High's might not be enough. You may need to get in on a casino heist in Atlantic City. Nevertheless, those were some of the snack prices at the Regal Cinemas Hunt Valley Stadium 12 recently when we went to see Firewall with Harrison Ford.

Many Marylanders live on the water, but the owner of this contemporary townhouse in Baltimore can walk out on three balconies and be over the water. The five-level home, built in 2006, sold for $1,125,000, about $100,000 less than the asking price. "This home was fun to sell because it showed so well and had excellent views of Baltimore's Inner Harbor from every level," said real estate agent William J. Ganz III, who listed the townhouse at 647 Ponte Villas South. "Combined with the fact that it is located in the private, gated Pier Homes at Harborview community, it was just a matter of time before it sold.

Motorists complaining about a bumpy railroad crossing in downtown Westminster should find smoother driving this year -- on concrete "tubs" that have been used in the West for years.The work at the crossing on Railroad Avenue, just east of Main Street, will be done by Maryland Midland Railway Co. Inc. of Union Bridge.The job probably will be done in late summer or early fall, and could be finished in a weekend."They're going to tear out what's there, and it will be all new stuff: precast concrete panels," said Robert J. Herstein, the State Highway Administration's team leader of statewide studies -- a sort of catchall department that includes railroad crossings.

The buyers of a home nestled on more than 7 acres in Cockeysville's Nicholsons Manor are getting a property with all the perks. This traditional mansion, which sold for $1,550,000, is at the end of a cul-de-sac and boasts a large blue stone patio in a hardscape backyard. A hot tub is tucked into a gazebo and an outdoor room, complete with a beamed ceiling, wet bar, fireplace and powder room. The stone and insulated stucco exterior features a four-bay connected garage and is defined by a balcony, bump-outs, floodlights and screened porch with slate flooring.

It has taken 79 years for the soapstone stationary laundry tubs to wear out.The plumber issued the death certificate earlier this summer. They'd cracked and leaked. These venerable troughs that began their life in the washboard era finally needed replacing.The cellar tubs came with my family's old Guilford Avenue house when my great-grandfather moved there in 1915. With Grandpop William Stewart were his wife, mother-in-law, two sons, five daughters and the family's pit bulldog.It's amazing those tubs lasted as long as they did given the stress they endured.

HOT TUBS in a school parking lot? That's the plan for Wednesday at River Hill High School.Here's what they're for:On Saturday, cyclists ages 7 to 77 will begin the 1997 Cycle Across Maryland tour.Cyclists choose a 300-mile six-day tour or a 150-mile three-day tour, both beginning in Bowie.After traveling to LaPlata, stopping at Lusby overnight and for a day of rest on Monday, the group of more than 1,200 riders -- including Roger Rinker, pastor of Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lisbon -- will head to Harwood and Clarksville.

PHILADELPHIA -- When Chris Hall wants to demonstrate the toughness of the soft bathtub on display at Ferguson Enterprises Inc. in King of Prussia, Pa., he sometimes likes to climb into it and take a few steps while wearing street shoes. Other times, a high-heeled member of the staff might take a short stroll in the tub."We encourage people to get in and walk around," said Hall, president of the Philadelphia-area division of Ferguson, a leading national wholesaler of plumbing fixtures based in Newport News, Va.Actually, Hall's tests are some of the milder demonstrations used to show the toughness of soft bathtubs.

The nominees ought to announce their ticket mates now and then just cancel those stuperfluous conventions. The New York Senate race shapes up as an ethnic struggle: Lawyers for Clinton vs. Stockbrokers for Giuliani. If N.Y. and N. J. won't dredge, Maersk may move its super tubs to Baltimore, if Md. and Va. do dredge. Crime is getting so violent in Baltimore county, people may start fleeing to the city.

Two Pasadena men have been arrested and charged with stealing $5,400 worth of property, including three whirlpool tubs, from home construction sites around the county.County police said yesterday they got a tip from Prince George's County authorities that led them to a home in the 200 block of Lake Road in Pasadena.Authorities said they seized property from that address and arrested the owner, Thomas Scott Farace, 29, who was charged with four counts of felony theft and one count of misdemeanor theft.

We get lots of announcements of new products. We mostly ignore them, but this one got our attention - "the launch of the industry's first Greek Cream Cheese. " Green Mountain Farms Greek Cream Cheese, according to its producer, Franklin Foods of Enosburg Falls, Vt., contains twice the protein and half the fat of regular cream cheese and contains live and active cultures. The Greek yogurt craze has made its way into the newsroom. You can usually spot a container or two in the refrigerator. We were interested.

We get lots of announcements of new products. We mostly ignore them, but this one got our attention - "the launch of the industry's first Greek Cream Cheese. " Green Mountain Farms Greek Cream Cheese, according to its producer, Franklin Foods of Enosburg Falls, Vt., contains twice the protein and half the fat of regular cream cheese and contains live and active cultures. The Greek yogurt craze has made its way into the newsroom. You can usually spot a container or two in the refrigerator. We were interested.

A ctors Rob Corddry ( "The Daily Show"), Craig Robinson ("The Office") and Clark Duke ("Greek") will be at Plungapalooza Saturday. But they're no fools. While thousands of others will be jumping into a frigid Chesapeake Bay, the three stars of the movie "Hot Tub Time Machine," opening nationwide March 19, will be sitting in their own hot tub. They'll also be handing over a $10,000 check to Special Olympics. Corddry, on the phone from Los Angeles, wanted to set the record straight about this notion that he'd be making like a polar bear Saturday.

When Jeanne and Sean St. Martin bought an old house on a hill above Historic Ellicott City's Main Street, they became the owners of a building that had been turned into three apartments and had been rented for decades. They could see the sky through numerous places in the roof. That was 22 years and many improvements ago. The couple, both accountants, removed walls, created rooms, dumped three work kitchens in favor of one airy eat-in and stripped the black paint off the pine floors in a home that already had a few additions to the original house.

Baseball Angels@Orioles 7:05 p.m. [MASN]: Orioles starter Radhames Liz has been struggling but got enough offensive support to win his last outing. Los Angeles' Jon Garland has had vastly divergent performances lately, going a full nine in a 7-1 win this month and then not making it out of the third inning in his next start.

Three years ago, the idea of paying $50 or $100 to ship a bag to your destination seemed like a luxury for the rich. "People thought we were way ahead of the curve," says Richard Altomare, who founded such a shipping service in 1999 after he popped a shoulder hoisting a bag. At first, his service was not widely used, but since the Sept. 11 attacks, as security-related luggage hassles have grown, so has Altomare's business. He heads Universal Express Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla., which runs Luggage Express (866-744-7224, www.usxpluggageexpress .com)

By Karen Nitkin and Karen Nitkin,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | October 18, 2006

Think of The Dog Wash as a laundromat, but for dogs instead of clothes. Customers bring in something that's dirty and pay to use the equipment on site to do the cleaning. But they do the work themselves. At first blush, a self-service dog wash might seem an unlikely business. Why would somebody pay to clean their own dog, when they can do it in their bathtub or sink for free? Owner Susan Young agreed that "some people were a little skeptical" when she opened her shop in Ellicott City.